Pfft!
Obito burst out of the earth, the kunai in his hand gleaming with a cold, chilling light.
Asuka Hyuga stood rooted to the spot, his hands instinctively finishing the Sixty-Four Palms and beating Obito's shadow clone into a burst of smoke.
The Hyuga Clan's Byakugan did indeed provide a full 360-degree field of vision with no blind spots, but he had never considered that Obito might attack from underground.
"I won!"
Obito held his kunai in a reverse grip against Asuka Hyuga's neck, his voice already carrying a hint of the man he would one day become.
An uproar swept through the crowd.
The spectators erupted again. The result had caught everyone off guard, and plenty of people were cursing and demanding their money back.
Before the selection began, the village's gambling houses had opened betting pools.
Asuka Hyuga had been the favorite second only to Kakashi. More than ninety percent of the gamblers had bet on him, certain he would become one of the Shichibukai.
Now that he had lost, there was no telling how many people had been ruined.
"I lost... I actually lost!" Asuka Hyuga still could not believe it was real.
He had not lost to Kazan or Kakashi, but to someone he considered dead last.
The Hyuga Clan members' faces were thunderous.
Under the eyes of Konoha's dignitaries, and even the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.
The genius of their clan's current generation had actually lost to a former Uchiha dead last.
This was a disgrace!
Shikaku Nara carried out his duty and announced, "The match is decided. The winner is Obito Uchiha!"
Obito put away his kunai and stepped forward to receive the final blade, the Exploding Blade Shibuki, a feeling of satisfaction welling up inside him.
After all these years, this